CHAPTER XIII.

SIR ARTHUR COTTON :

ENGINEER AND PHILANTHROPIST.

A.D. 1821-1860.

"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”—Jeremiah xvii. 7, 8.

"The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose."-Isaiah

XXXV. I.

THE first of these passages is a beautiful description of a godly man, whose trust is placed in the Lord. Such a one is compared to a tree planted in a wellwatered garden, which, even in seasons of drought, remains green and flourishing, and never ceases to bring forth its fruit. Those who live in a part of India which

is thoroughly irrigated, like the Godavery Delta, will fully understand and appreciate this appropriate illustration, and will rejoice in the scene of abundance which it describes. It equally depicts the fertility of the wellwatered land, and the life of the wise and godly man who brought to it the means for its luxuriant fruitful

ness.

Few men, during the last century, have done more to benefit South India than Sir Arthur Cotton. There are few who ought to be remembered by its people with greater honour, and whose memory they should cherish with greater gratitude. Others have benefited India by the preparation of just and equal laws; have ruled with courtesy and kindness; have laboured for the people with life and voice and pen; have shielded them from the attacks of enemies, and have given them the inestimable blessing of peace. Sir Arthur Cotton conferred on them benefits of a different kind. He bridled mighty rivers by his engineering genius, and made the districts through which they flow permanently fertile and prosperous, free from famine, and capable of supplying other places in times of scarcity and distress. The Kavari, the Kistna, and the Godavery were, by his noble works, rendered sources of fertility and blessing, and remain to this day visible monuments of his skill. His life also, pure, simple, and godly, was a beautiful example to all those with whom he was associated in his official labours.

Arthur Thomas Cotton was the ninth son of Mr. Henry Calveley Cotton, who once served in one of the regiments of the Royal Guards, and was afterwards connected with the Post Office. He was born on May

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15, 1803, at Woodcot, near Reading. He owed much to his mother, who was a very remarkable lady, and who exercised a salutary influence over her children. At an early age he showed great power of thought and reflection, and also much interest in canals and other engineering works.

At the early age of fifteen Arthur Cotton received a Cadetship in the service of the East India Company; and, in 1818, entered their Military Academy at Addiscombe. This institution was situated a mile or so to the east of Croydon. It had been founded a few years before for the purpose of training young officers who were going to India. It has now been abolished. The buildings have been pulled down, and not a vestige of it remains. Arthur Cotton there obtained the distinction of getting into the Corps of Engineers, which was an honour gained by the more diligent students. He left the Academy in December, 1819. After serving in the Ordnance Survey at Bangor in Wales, he went to Chatham, where the young Engineer officers usually go for further training. He left for Madras in May, 1821, arriving there in the following September. In May, 1822, he was appointed Assistant Engineer in the Southern Division, and the very first work on which he was employed was connected with the department in which he was afterwards celebrated. He was employed in the examination of the Pambam Channel with the object of making it navigable.

Cotton's next appointment was Assistant to the Chief Engineer at Madras, which he retained about two years. He then joined the army in Burma, war having broken out with that country. He was present at the capture

of Rangoon on May 11, 1824, and was actively engaged in many of the actions during that campaign, in which he showed conspicuous courage, freely exposing himself while leading storming parties, but remaining himself uninjured. We do not propose to follow his career throughout the war; and content ourselves with quoting his own estimate of the manner in which it was conducted. "It was," he afterwards wrote, a very melancholy business inconceivably mismanaged, and only worth recording for the purpose of showing in a strong light the astonishing improvement in the conduct of our wars now. Looking back, I can hardly believe the profound ignorance of the art of war, and even of details of professional duty."

Sir Arthur, throughout his career, had a wholesome horror of gambling. This aversion was caused by an incident that occurred while he was in Burma. One evening he played at cards with one of his superior officers, and he lost £20, which, in those days, was to him a very considerable sum. Payment in full was exacted. This conduct so disgusted him that from that moment he took a great dislike to gambling, which clung to him during the remainder of his life. "If such games," he reasoned, "so blight a man's generosity and kindness, the effect of them must be disastrous."

At the close of the campaign Cotton returned to Madras. Up to this time he had been leading the careless, indifferent, ungodly life which too many who are called by the name of Christian are in the habit of doing. They would be surprised if they were told that they were not really entitled to that holy name; but they are entirely ignorant of the true nature of the religion of

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Christ. As Lieutenant Cotton was quietly sitting one evening on the deck of the vessel in which he was sailing, and admiring the beautiful star-lit night, the thought of the Creator of all that wonderful scene forcibly seized hold of his mind. "Who made these worlds?" he exclaimed. "Upon whose handiwork am I gazing now? It is the work of God, our great Creator." Unhappily he had not studied the Bible, in which the Lord is revealed as the Creator of all things as well as the Saviour of all men. The thought now occupying his mind, however, made him consider, and fall into the following train of ideas: "If there is a great Creator, if He made the world, the sun, the moon, the stars, what do I know of Him? Has He ever spoken? If so, what are His words? The Bible is the word of God. I ought to read it. I should like to know what He says." Immediately, on the impulse of the moment, he rushed below into the saloon, where his brother-officers and others were playing at cards. As he hurriedly entered, he simply asked the direct question, "Is there a Bible on board the ship?" Such an unusual question astonished them, and they burst into laughter; but he was too much in earnest to mind, and persisted in urging his request. One of the party then said that he had a Bible, but that it was packed at the bottom of his trunk. To please him, however, search was made for it at once, and it was placed in his hands. He forthwith began his perusal of the sacred volume, and he studied it day after day. This was the beginning of a life-long devotion to

General Sir Arthur Cotton, His Life and Work, by Lady Hope. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1900, p. 19.